Consequences Of Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the ideology of Puritan society in the novel the Scarlet Letter; however reader also get to witness his characters being an illustration of hypocrisy and victims to their own guilt. In the Scarlet Letter, as in many of Hawthorne’s shorter works, he makes profuse use of the Puritan past: its odd exclusionary belief, its harsh code of ruling, its concern with sex and witchcraft. The Scarlet Letter is a story that is embellished but yet simple. Many readers may view this novel as a soap opera due to the way Hawthorne conveys this Puritan society’s sense of strictness and inability to express true emotion along with the secrecy and how deceiving the characters are being. As the story unfolds the main character Hester Prynne is bounded in marriage at an early age. She engages in an adulterous affair with an unknown member of their small village. Hester soon becomes pregnant and with her husband’s absence the chances of this child belonging to her husband are slim. The towns’ people know that she has committed a sin and imprisons her for her crime.

This ridicule has a trickle down effect on Hester as she too is banished from her own community for committing adultery. The comparison between Hester and Hawthorne defines the external struggle for the reader to fully understand the effect of opinions from society on them Although reluctant to allow Hester to leave prison, the members of the town suggest that her punishment be to wear a scarlet red letter A on her bosom, thereby allowing all to know of her crime. The scarlet letter “ was red-hot with infernal fire, ” (Hawthorne 81) and defined the state she was currently in, that being eternal hell. Though she was forced to marry an older man at a young age, her rebellion to have an affair is not seen as an internal struggle that she overcame; rather, it is merely seen as a woman who sinned, a woman who shall therefore endure the punishment for the sin, rather than a woman who was never given a say in what she wanted with her life. Time and again, Hester Prynne is seen defying society by allowing herself to stand out from societal norm just as the roses “with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner“ (Hawthorne) did. Instead, she returns to the community and is observed aiding those in need, all with seven year old Pearl by her side.

Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne relays the theme of guilt using symbolism that is portrayed in the scarlet letter itself and in the main character’s daughter. The story follows the protagonist, Hester Prynne, who commits adultery with the town minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, producing the child she raises on her own named Pearl. Guilt is a common theme for the duration of the novel which covers all aspects of the shame each character feels. These particular dimensions of shame come specifically from different objects in the novel and what they represent.

  "What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us," stated Oliver Wendell Holmes. This eventually proves to be especially true for Hester Prynne, the main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne, a fair young maiden whose husband had disappeared two years prior to the opening of the novel, has an affair with the pastor of her Puritan church, resulting in the birth of her child Pearl. Because of this act of adultery, Hester Prynne is branded by the scarlet letter "A," which she is forced to forever wear upon her attire. The plot thickens as Hester's former husband returns to New England and becomes

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne develops the dynamic characterization of Hester Prynne from a beautiful, innocent girl into a somber, hardened women to showcase the evils and hypocrisy of Puritan New England’s culture of shaming. Hawthorne employs rhetorical devices such as metaphor and juxtaposition to further develop the characterization and his critique of Puritan society. When initially describing Hester, Hawthorne emphasizes her incredible beauty, and juxtaposes this with the other ugly, judging Puritan women, adding to the hypocrisy of her being shamed for sinning. Hawthorne emphasizes the verbal assault on Hester by employing metaphor and imagery in its description. After the community shuns and shames Hester for years, Hawthorne uses metaphor again to show how Hester’s body and character changes for the worst, emphasizes the malice and evil of public shame.

Pearls are made in the darkness of a clam. Pearl was born in prison, into darkness. Hester paid the ultimate price of having pearl. Pearl is the result of the sin, adultery, that Hester and Dimmesdale committed. Hawthorne explains, “ Hester prynne- yes, at herself- who stood on the scaffold of the pillary, an infant in her arms…” ( Hawthorne 58) . This quote shows that Pearl isn’t an ordinary baby. Pearl is a result of sin and is a constant reminder of that. Hester can not get rid of Pearl, she going to spend the rest of her life with her life with Pearl and the guilt of how she got here is always there. As the story goes on, Pearl grows up and she knows who her father is. The town notices that Pearl was a little off. One time a group of kids was making fun of her and she started screaming and throwing rocks at the kids. Dimmesdale exclaims, “not then,Pearl” said the minister “but another time!” (Hawthorne 153). This proves Pearl knows Dimmesdale is her father and she asks him when he is going to claim her. Pearl is a very smart kid, nobody told her who her father is, she just knew. Dimmesdale feels guilty for not standing on the scaffold when hester did. Pearl is a constant reminder to him of the sin he committed. Pearl is a symbol of guilt not only towards Hester but dimmesdale,

Since Dimmesdale tries to balance making a relationship with Pearl, and trying to figure out his own sin, it becomes challenging for him to do so, because he cannot acknowledge Pearl in public, which is all that she asking for. He starts to develop a sense of fear towards her because she believes that he does not fulfill the father figure she needs. Since Dimmesdale will not come out and take action for Pearl, Hester tries everything in her will to keep from the government finding a better home for Pearl, because Hester treasures her more than

In the Puritan society, the Scarlet Letter represents the Puritan’s view on the "sin of adultery" that Hester has committed in her life. However, Hawthorne shows throughout the novel that the Scarlet Letter evolved to be a potent symbol of Hester’s identity. The scarlet letter "A" again was originate to represents adultery, however it also represents rebellion against the puritan culture. Hester's attachment to the scarlet letter isolates her from the puritan’s society but it allows her to have freedom on her beliefs and actions as quote “She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom” (Hawthorne). Later when she believes her relationship with the town minister, Dimmesdale is pure base on her 'free will’; she separates her 'free will' against the Puritan definition of 'sin'. As a result, it is a symbol of Hester's pride and burden. Because of this, Hester was forced to carry the scarlet letter of which she later accept the letter and the identity that it has placed upon her as quote, “She had wandered, without rule or guidance, into a moral wilderness... Her intellect and heart had their home, as it were, in desert places, where she roamed as freely as the wild Indian in his woods... The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers—stern and wild ones—and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss” (Hawthorne). Overall, her sin teaches her a lesson while obstructs her at the same

Through this specific method, the readers, similar to the characters in the story, were only allowed to view this character in the way that Dimmesdale would have hoped to be seen; innocent and divine. Reverend Dimmesdale’s hidden wrongdoing led him to receive no punishment, however the individual who had committed the crime with him, Hester Prynne and their daughter, Pearl, had been penalized and shunned upon by the town’s community. Initially, the character had held a strong-willed attempt to throw away the past and avoid the mother and daughter together gracefully, yet his guilty conscience that had bitten down, would not let go. Hawthorne gradually unmasks to the readers what lies underneath Dimmesdale’s vibrant demeanor, and the first unusual sign of distress in this reverend comes to life. Readers begin to perceive that as his guilt continues to haunt him in endless cycles, the easier he is weakened by hallucination and sinful thoughts. We first see that Dimmesdale had begun to develop a strong desire to correct his fault by relentlessly having the compelling urge to see Hester and Pearl, hoping that this new method would cleanse him from feeling sinful. Despite switching from heavy avoidance to necessary sights, Hawthorne left Dimmesdale’s unphasable guilt with him, eventually turned his dimming mind inside out, enclosing him with darkness and insanitary occurrences such as hallucination, which continued to destroyed his mindset, and made him significantly

18) The constant reminder that Dimmesdale is suffering is he always has his hand over his heart. This may be because he also has a scarlet letter secretly on his chest for the sin he committed and has been hiding for years. Other than this, Dimmesdale’s guilt and lies he’s been living is just his own constant reminders that he is suffering.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the harshness of society and its impact on a member of the community who has done wrong. Hester Prynne was a young, beautiful, and married woman whose husband was over seas when she got pregnant. Accused with the crime of adultery, Hester has to deal with being shunned by her Puritan community. Refusing to give up the father’s name, Hester must raise her child alone and live with the guilt of her sins in dishonor. This contributes to the idea that Dimmesdale and Hester were both destroyed by their deception and secrecy.

When Dimmesdale tells Pearl to come to him and asks Hester to as well, “‘Hester,’ said he, ‘come hither! Come, my little Pearl!’ It was a ghastly look with which he regarded them; but there was something at once tender and strangely triumphant in it. “ (376) Dimmesdale, had finally made the choice to come forth about his transgressions and therefore, was taking the action that the audience had been waiting for all along. Once Dimmesdale made his confession and resolved the mystery of the story, everyone in the community were bewildered and then, as if the confession was not enough, Dimmesdale

Though she was a product of sin, she is Hester and Dimmesdale’s symbol of hope and also redemption. Pearl was Hester’s pearl “purchased with all she had—her only treasure” (173). Throughout Pearl’s life, all Hester and her had known was darkness and ridicule, but Pearl made Hester believe in a way out, which she eventually shares with Dimmesdale when they plan the run away. Pearl is Dimmesdale’s redemption because he lived her whole life in hiding, scared of ridicule that Hester had received, but when he confessed, Pearl kissed his lips, “a spell was broken” (513). Pearl’s forgiveness was a sign of

Hester Prynne, a character within The Scarlet Letter, is a prime example of Hawthorne's common transformation of individuals within his books. These mutations involve the qualities and attributes of her physical appearance, feminine emotions, and reputation among the townspeople. Throughout the novel, the mentioned elements of Hester's character develop and change several times, providing the reader with better understanding of the influence that the scarlet letter and other characters have on her.

Pearl is the lovechild of Hester and Dimmesdale, the mark of their sin. In the novel, Pearl is